the earth beneath our feet
by charbrose
Summary: he would be lying if he said he hadn't imagined this very moment – her turning up, out of the blue still as beautiful and fierce as ever – but he didn't think it would be almost twenty years later with half the universe gone and him so on edge, he doesn't even believe she's real [rhodey/carol, in endgame]


_a/n: i really wanted a young james rhodes to appear in captain marvel and i was disappointed he didn't since he and carol are one of my favorite marvel comics pairings. this is for my brain twin amanda who called me out on twitter for not writing this fic sooner. i love you. the dialogue from the extended clip doesn't belong to me, obviously. i'm just embellishing on it._

* * *

**~*~the earth beneath our feet~*~**

**pairing: jim rhodes/carol danvers**

**summary: he would be lying if he said he hadn't imagined this very moment – her turning up, out of the blue still as beautiful and fierce as ever – but he didn't think it would be almost twenty years later with half the universe gone and him so on edge, he doesn't even believe she's real**

**rating: t**

* * *

_there are a million ways to bleed. but you are by far my favorite._

_iain thomas -_

Jim Rhodes can count on one hand – not even using all five fingers – the times that he's been _breathless_ in his entire life.

This – Carol Danvers suddenly standing in front of him, after all these years, not looking a day over thirty – is one of those times. He would be lying if he said he hadn't imagined this very moment – her turning up, out of the blue still as beautiful and fierce as ever – but he didn't think it would be almost twenty years _later_ with half the universe gone and him so on edge, he doesn't even believe she's real.

His fingers flex at his sides, nails digging into his palm, desperate to grasp her chin in his hand and then tilt her chin upwards, and stare into her deep chestnut irises, getting lost among the rich mahogany and warm maples that swirl, and she'll say – lips twisting into her familiar smirk, "take a picture, jimbo, it'll last longer."

Everything flashes across his eyes; white hot and quick, but vibrant and drawn out at the same time.

* * *

"_higher, further, faster, huh?"_

"_what's the matter, rhodes? scared i'll leave you in the dust?"_

"_grammy rhodes made sure i knew how to treat a lady,"_

"_i doubt grammy rhodes would call me a lady, jimbo"_

"_if you fucking stop and talk about being a gentleman, instead of finishing what you've started, i swear to god, rhodes..."_

"_you kiss your mother with that mouth, carol?"_

"_nope. just you."_

"_don't fly too far or too fast, can't have you trying to keep up with me and maria and wrecking your pretty face"_

"_be careful. none of this – the flying, seeing the world – means anything if you're not on the ground waiting for me when i come back."_

"_i'm always careful, james."_

* * *

_james, james, james, james _over and over he hears her say his name in his head. The only time she called him James – not Jimbo or Rhodes or Hot Shot or Maverick or even Jim – was the last time he had seen her before today. When she and Lawson and Rambeau went on their mission _Project Pegasus_. Only Rambeau came back, however. He swallows thickly, his throat tight while his heart weighs heavy in his chest. He didn't think he'd ever see her again and she's exactly the same, but he isn't.

No longer the dashing young officer trying to sweep the fierce high flyer off her feet, he's got twenty years on her, even though if you looked up both their birth certificates, they're only months apart.

"_c'mon, old man, keep up!"_

A brief wry smile tugs at his lips, the memory vivid as she sped around the race track in the beat up go-cart, nothing but a red blur as she sped past him in the less flashy blue car. Their first date.

He has so many questions, all of them on the tip of his tongue, ready to spill past his lips everyone else in the room be damned, and that's when Romanoff's voice breaks through, "He used the stones again," as she looks at the hologram of Earth, and he pushes _everything_ back and focuses on what his mind never should have strayed from – even if Carol suddenly reappeared like she hadn't literally disappeared off the face of the Earth – the fact that half of Earth's population is gone and they – those who survived – need to form a plan on how to bring the rest back.

"Heyyyyyyy," There's Bruce's shaky tone. "We'd be going in short handed, y'know."

"Look," He focuses on the platinum blonde, standing at the hologram, if he doesn't look at Carol he doesn't have to think about all the memories he hasn't dare let himself think about for years. "_He's_ still got the stones so..." He doesn't want sound defeated, but he watched that – whatever the hell Thanos is – maniac wipe out half the planet just by snapping his fingers, so honestly – without Tony [a heavy swallow], Vision, Wanda, Sam and the rest, what threat do they _really_ pose, if any at all?

"So let's get 'em," Carol speaks up, chestnut irises drifting toward Cap who stands stoically, arms folded across his chest and jaw set in that classic All-American way. "And use them to bring everyone back."

His heart bleeds; it's so familiar, her brazen suggestion of getting the stones back, like they aren't going on what is tantamount to a suicide mission. Like they can just waltz over to wherever Thanos is holding court now and pluck the stones one by one from his gauntlet and snap!everyone is back.

Staring at her familiar profile, he wonders if she remembers that he would've followed her to hell and back once upon a time?

"Just like that?" Bruce questions, voice wavering with disbelief. "Yeah," Cap confirms, nodding his head. "Just like that."

"Even if there's just _a small chance_," The desperation in Romanoff's voice is palpable. "That we can undo this... I mean we owe to everyone who's not in this room to try."

"If we do this," Bruce clearly remains unconvinced, the wavering in his tone turning into out-right skepticism. "How do we know it's going to end _any_ differently than it did before?"

"Because before you didn't have _me_,"

It's like everything changed, but it's still – somehow – the same. She's as brash and bold as she ever was.

* * *

James shakes his head and, crossing his arms over his chest and remarks, "Hey, New Girl," He calls her _that_ because since she appeared she hasn't acknowledged him in the slightest and he wonders – heart bleeding more inside his chest – if she remembers him at all. "Everyone in this room is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind my asking," Still polite, even if he wants nothing more than to demand answers from her. "Where the hell have you been all this time?"

_that's it, rhodes, play it cool. no one knows what you're really asking. that you're not asking because earth's been an alien/super villain playground for a hot minute, but you're asking cause you know her... cause you know what it's like to run your fingers through the silken golden rod waves that fall around her shoulders, know what it's like to feel that tart, berry pout align itself with your lips perfectly, hungrily... cause you know what it's like to hold her... slim, hard angles, stronger than even she knows but soft and pliant when she wants..._

Her shoulders square and she stares at him head on, and he doesn't know how his heart could bleed _more_, but it does.

"There are a lot of other planets in the universe, and unfortunately, they didn't have you guys."

He knows what would have happened _before_, he'd offer up another quip, her lips would twist and she'd cut him down to size while her chestnut eyes twinkled. It would go back and forth like volleys in a game of tennis until their CO would call for their unit to be dismissed and they'd end up in a tangle of arms and legs in either his barracks or hers. She'd claim victory – because like always – he would be underneath her, and he would tell her – like always – there was no better place to be, so _i believe i'm the real winner, if i may be so bold in saying so, ma'am._

"_best two out of three? or are you afraid you won't be able to go even another round, gramps?"_

"_gramps?" a roll of his eyes. "i'm only six months older than you, carol."_

"_so best three out of four, then?"_

He's not at all surprised that she stands her ground, not even blinking when Thor moves to stand in front of her. She doesn't blink when faced with the towering Norse God, his axe Storm Breaker flying directly past her to appear in his hand.

Only Carol Danvers would be unflinching as a literal God looms over her, clearly attempting to intimidate her.

He's even less surprised by Thor's response, a curt, "I like this one." because of course he does. It's impossible not to like Carol. She's strong, capable, fearless, dedicated, fierce, amazing and a dozen other things.

And she's _back_, suddenly after all this time, and he's still powerless in her presence, which is why he slips from the room without announcing his departure. He'll be filled in on the plan, so he doesn't need to hear Cap's ra ra speech. He shouldn't be thinking about how he can't be in the same room as her without demanding answers, he should be focused on the task at hand, but she's back and how could there be anything more important than her _finally_ being back?

* * *

Carol watches as the man she's heard answer to Rhodes and Jim leaves. There are braces on his legs, his steps heavier and more plodding than the graceful gait she saw when the Skrulls were trying to get inside her head. She didn't expect to ever see _him_. She thought all she would have were the bits and pieces of her fragmented memory. Just a flash here and there; his blinding white teeth, the sharp angle of his jaw, his deep chocolate skin, the broadness of his shoulders in dress blues, his strong hands touching her like she was made of glass.

_james_... it was never rhodes or jim she heard in her head, but james.

The only time she called him that was the last time she had seen him.

_i'm always careful, james._

She never let herself think about what was going on here while she was gone. Did Maria ever meet someone? Had Monica kissed a boy? Did she graduate college? Were they still in Louisiana, even? But every once in a while – however brief – she would let her mind drift. There was Maria with a flight school, Monica still holding on to her old leather jacket as she scribbled equations and formulas across pages and pages of loose leaf paper, in binder after binder as she studied harder and harder each year, bringing her closer to her goal of going to space.

But what her mind drifted toward even more than Monica and Maria was _him_ the man whom she only saw bits and pieces of that was called James.

She still couldn't believe he was _here_. She never thought she would _actually_ see him like she had been reunited with Maria and Monica.

He was as old as she was supposed to be, but not any less handsome than the fragments she had seen over the years. Despite the braces on his legs, he stood tall and though not as broad-shouldered as the God or Captain, he had a commanding presence. She wondered how far he had risen in the ranks while she was gone? She couldn't stop herself from studying him, taking him in from every angle. She would be lying if she said she hadn't thought about what would happen if she saw him again. She wondered if the subtle flip she felt her stomach do when she met his dark, penetrating stare had been there the first time they met?

* * *

"Rhodes... Jim..." Foreign and strange on her tongue, she shakes her head... She doesn't like that, she _isn't_ supposed to call him those names, she's supposed to call him James.

"You can't just barge.." He starts, hackles rising before he deflates, a heavy sigh falling from his lips. "The hell am I saying... You've always barged in wherever; restricted areas on base, hangers that were shut down, go kart tracks during non-business hours, the mess hall when it wasn't chow time..." There's a fondness in his tone, but a weariness as well. "My quarters when it was lights out..."

"I didn't think I'd ever see you," Her tone shaky. "I thought you would only just be fragments... Just these flashes I would get every once in a while..."

"And I thought I'd _never_ see you again. At all. I thought all that was left of you was a black box the Air Force was gonna keep under lock and key till the end of time. Now, you're here – you're _back_ – and the whole world's fallen apart and of course you show up ready to save it..."

"_Of course_?"

"Of course," He repeats and there's his fingers, grasping her chin gently, tilting her head up and she wonders if he feels it too; safety, security, warmth, what she's heard throughout the universe about feeling butterflies and if this is what it feels like when you're in love?

All the fragments she's seen make her think they were, but she wants to hear it from him.

"Do you feel _it_, too?" A ghost of a whisper as she rises to the tips of her toes, lips hovering over his.

He doesn't have to ask what she means. He never stopped. And that's what he tells her, honest and true, like he's always been with her, "I never stopped, Carol."

_carol. carol. carol. carol. carol. carol._

It's like she's hearing her own name for the first time, like he's saying it the way it was meant to be said, lke it's _more_ than just five letters.

"This isn't over," Her tone firm, her lips set in a hard line as she stares deeply into his eyes. "There's a world to save, people to bring back, but after..." Her lips quirk slightly, and it's deja vu all over again for James. Her hands slide along the contours of his chest, down to the hem of his shirt and then back up again before draping around his neck. "After," He agrees because even though she's been gone for twenty years and doesn't look a day over thirty, he's still powerless to resist her.

He still wants her like she never left, still needs her like she never left and when it's all over and they're standing tall, he won't let her slip through his fingers this time around.


End file.
